He's Doing the Best He Can (Tongue in cheek by Al Franken)

[Arkansas Granny]

Last edited Sun Dec 30, 2018, 11:58 AM - Edit history (2)

Barely a day goes by without Donald Trump reminding us all of his total disregard for the truth, his startling ignorance, or his affection for murderous autocrats. The President of the United States generally exhibits the behavior of a sick, unfeeling sociopath. I am not a fan.

That said, you have to feel for the guy. It’s not his fault that he lacks so many of the attributes that are required to do this job successfully: a breadth of knowledge, maturity, empathy, curiosity, a sense of humor, emotional intelligence, discretion, self-discipline, self-awareness, selflessness, and the ability to put the country before self. Just to name a few.

Besides, any energy spent demanding that he suddenly develop these qualities at the age of 72 is wasted. The sad truth is, he’s doing the best he can.

And, of course, we knew who he was from Day One. The subtext of his entire campaign — starting with the announcement speech in which he called Mexican immigrants rapists and murderers — was: “Please do not elect me President — I cannot do this job.” Trump himself famously prepared only one speech for Election Night — a concession. (One can only imagine how gracious that speech congratulating President-elect Clinton would have been.)

ETA corrected link.
https://medium.com/afranken/hes-doing-the-best-he-can-67e50149c6d9

[malaise]

1. Al nailed it

Get thee to the greatest page.

[Laf.La.Dem.]

2. I LOVE Al Franken

I wish he would still be in the Senate!

[Arkansas Granny]

3. Me too. I miss his tenacity and barbed sense of humor.

[global1]

4. I Miss His Dedication To His Job As A U.S. Senator And.....

his clear thinking and even handedness.

[calimary]

17. So do I.

We still need his voice out there. Glad he’s still there to offer it.

[demmiblue]

5. Here is the working link:

https://medium.com/afranken/hes-doing-the-best-he-can-67e50149c6d9

[Arkansas Granny]

7. Thanks. For some reason I can't seem to copy that to my post.

[demmiblue]

9. You have to take out the @.

I don't know why it is set up that way.

[Autumn]

6. OMG what we lost. I wish he would run for President.

[RiverStone]

30. Or any leadership position within the Dem party!

He was one of my favorite (and most effective) Senators.

[Autumn]

32. He's the most effective Senator that I've ever seen too. I loved listening to him talk,

he was always on top of thing and it was like he knew what people were going to say.

[Cha]

8. That was excellent.. Thank You for

Al Franken's piece, Arkansas Granny!

[handmade34]

10. best part

"...Democrats don’t need to waste our time getting angry every time Trump says something stupid or mean. What we need to do is oversight, and a lot of it. We need to figure out exactly what this guy has broken — whether through malice or neglect or greed or sheer incompetence — and start fixing it before more people get hurt.

And we need Republicans who knew they were putting a dangerously unqualified buffoon in the White House to either help us contain the damage or get the hell out of our way."

[cstanleytech]

11. I would correct him slightly on that part as far as entirely blaming Trump for what he has broken.

After all he could not have done nearly as much as he has had it not been for the Repugnants in the House and Senate actively working to both help and protect him.

[Roy Rolling]

13. True

But the end paragraph puts that into context by calling out the perpetrators.

"What we need to do is oversight, and a lot of it. We need to figure out exactly what this guy has broken — whether through malice or neglect or greed or sheer incompetence — and start fixing it before more people get hurt.

And we need Republicans who knew they were putting a dangerously unqualified buffoon in the White House to either help us contain the damage or get the hell out of our way."

[calimary]

19. This wasn't just another op/ed. It's a tour de force.

DAYUM does he ever nail it. And unfortunate for us all.

[ginnyinWI]

28. my favorite point, too.

Just ignore the toddler and his tantrums. Put him in the corner for a time out and clean the oatmeal off the floor. The grownups need to be in charge.

[watoos]

12. He was one of the few

who could change the right wing narrative.

It was Al Franken who gave us Mueller because of his grilling of Jeff Sessions.

We lost a warrior, although I hope he keeps speaking out. Maybe a comeback?

[Heartstrings]

14. Miss him...

Sure hope he comes back in some capacity.

[FakeNoose]

15. That's Al Franken - catching the flies with sugar rather than vinegar

But he stills gets plenty of zingers in anyway.

[LakeArenal]

16. I remember why Al is not in the Senate.

I will always remind those responsible when they make 2020 noise.

[calimary]

20. Yep. I know exactly what you mean, LakeArenal.

I’m making a point of it. Never to forget. And always to remind.

Besides, the behavior here suggests such individuals would over-react on other matters as well, and the ramifications of that could extend a lot farther than just one guy being driven from his job.

[LakeArenal]

21. I get some pretty strong often insulting pushback when I do.

Though I won’t stop.

[maddiemom]

18. And be thankful every day for the Electoral College, right?

You Go Al!

[gademocrat7]

22. Spot on!

Miss his intelligence and wit. Hope he will return to politics.

[Joe941]

23. Just a reminder that Al was railroaded!

[Arkansas Granny]

24. I doubt you will find many here who need that reminder.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

25. no punches pulled!

[Eliot Rosewater]

26. Al Franken vs Rump...one is a faithful husband, honest man who never ONCE

touched ANYBODY inappropriately and the other is accused of multiple sexual abuse.


I am so fucking angry

[grantcart]

31. a Roger Stone production

[dlk]

27. Well Said!

[JohnnyLib2]

29. "...doing the best he can."

IMO, that is absolutely accurate. He was never going to be up to this position, never going to improve and never going to succeed. What we see is all he's got and much of the country is suffering from that.

Bravo, Al Franken!

[spanone]

33. K&R...👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼